


Acts of Service

by AuroraNova



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 02:59:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13695483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraNova/pseuds/AuroraNova
Summary: Daniel translates Jack's love languages.





	Acts of Service

Daniel was eating a late lunch because he’d been absorbed in the latest MALP footage, but nobody was ever alone in the SGC mess hall. A couple of airmen he didn’t recognize sat at the other end of his table. He paid them no attention at first, being busy doing research on the Maori, in whose culture nobody at SGC specialized.

The airmen ignored him. New to SGC, then. Not to be boastful, but SGC veterans tended to at least give him a respectful nod, a habit Daniel attributed to giving him a recognizable place in the hierarchy.

“So how’s the wedding planning going?” asked the redheaded airman.

The blonde shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Didn’t realize there were so damned many details. Why the hell do I care if the chairs have bows tied around them? Or how the napkins are folded? Even Melissa didn’t care about the napkins. I want to marry her, I want a good meal followed by delicious cake, and I want good dance music. Oh yeah, I also rejected Mom’s plea for a full Mass.”

“I hate full Mass weddings. If I wanted to sit through Mass, I’d be Catholic.”

“I don’t think all Catholics even want to sit through Masses. So my sister gave us this book about love languages.”

“I thought French was the language of love.”                             

“No, not that type of language. It was actually kind of helpful. Melissa’s primary love language is words of affirmation, right? So it means she says stuff like, “I love you,” or “I’m really proud of you,” and it also means she looks for me to say all that stuff. Me, I’m an acts of service guy. I do stuff like pick up her dry cleaning on the way home.”

“Do I even want to know how many love languages there are?”

“Five. Besides words of affirmation and acts of service, there’s physical touch, quality time, and, let’s see, oh right, gifts. I thought it was some weird hippie thing at first, because it came from my sister, but it’s good. It helped me see where Mel is coming from, and how I can make sure we’re on the same wavelength, and she knows that me doing things for her is saying I love her.”

“Huh. I guess if it helps, that’s good.”

“The way I see it, the secrecy about what I do here is enough of a strain. Whatever helps smooth over any other issues can only be a good thing. Plus, we’ve both got physical touch as our secondary love language, so that makes things easier.”

At his end of the table, Daniel wasn’t so sure about this love languages business. It seemed to put friendly behavior in a light which could be misinterpreted as romantic. After all, using this criteria, Jack’s habit of clapping Daniel on the back and doing stuff to help out meant he was in love, and that was just ridiculous. Yes, it had been thoughtful of Jack to get Daniel’s car an overdue oil change while he was offworld with SG-12, but Jack was a good friend. And sure, he’d shined Daniel’s dress shoes ahead of their last diplomatic conference, but that was only so Daniel had time to go over some last-minute details with Major Davis.

As for the touching, well, Jack was simply a tactile man. It didn’t equal love. More the pity, because Daniel would’ve liked his feelings to be requited, but these things happened when, against your better judgement, you fell for a completely heterosexual man. Daniel repressed a sigh and went back to his reading on the Maori, leaving the topic of love languages to the airmen.

A few days later, SG-1’s mission was cancelled due to heavy flooding around the gate, which meant he wasn’t going to be hiking with a backpack and should probably get exercise in another fashion. When you ran for your life as much as Daniel did, it was important to stay in shape. He figured he’d go to the gym on base, where he was slowly increasing the amount of weight he could bench press.

Jack evidently had the same idea. He was doing chin-ups when Daniel walked in, apparently in competition with Ferretti. He did love competitions.

Daniel went over to a vacant treadmill to warm up with a light jog. Across the gym, Jack won the chin-up competition, though by the looks of it, it was a narrow victory. Ferretti said something which made Jack laugh and wandered off to the locker room.

The last time Daniel had let Jack talk him into a gym competition, he’d lost. No surprise there. Unlike Ferretti, he’d received a consoling pat on the shoulder.

It was at this point that Daniel’s brain, always on the lookout for patterns, realized a new one. Jack touched him. Nothing more than friendly contact here and there, but – and this was key – with considerably more frequency than he touched anyone else. Daniel had noticed he received more touches than Sam or Teal’c, and that was to be expected. Teal’c didn’t like to be touched, and Sam was Jack’s direct subordinate. It was perfectly reasonable that he didn’t interact with them the same way he did Daniel.

Ferretti was different. Yes, he was still a rank below Jack, having made lieutenant colonel. He wasn’t a direct report, and he was a friend of Jack’s. If it was just about friendly touches, surely Ferretti would receive some too. But he didn’t.

Nor, for that matter, did anyone else, at least nowhere near as often as Daniel did. Jack high-fived others from time to time, and he’d once slapped Major Sanchez’s back in congratulations on the birth of his daughter. Nothing close to the way Jack touched Daniel.

Physical touch was a love language.

Jack didn’t shine anyone else’s shoes, or get their oil changed. Last year he’d swapped out Daniel’s spark plugs, come to think of it, and there was the time he drove to three coffee shops when Daniel was laid up, looking for his favorite blend during an unexpected shortage.

Acts of service were a love language, too.

Daniel’s first response was to tell himself this was all wishful thinking. Except… that didn’t quite seem to fit. He had a lot to think about.

* * *

 

Daniel didn’t want to upset his friendship with Jack if he was wrong and his theory was the result of projecting his own feelings, so he said nothing and thought it over some more, until a week after the gym epiphany, everything became clear.

He was in the infirmary and Janet had his eyes covered. She was confident his vision would recover from the exposure to blinding light, but until it did, he was stuck with an eye mask and bored out of his mind.

Someone approached his bed. “Hey Daniel.”

“Hi Jack.”

“I figure you’re going stir-crazy.”

“Well, I’m starting to wonder if I can get my hands on a beginner Braille book to pass the time.”

He could hear Jack pull a chair over. “I’ve got something better.”

“Oh?” Anything would be an improvement on the boredom.

“I’ve got the latest _Journal of Applied Linguistics_. It was in your mailbox. You might have to help me with any fancy linguistics terminology.”

“You’re going to read it to me?”

“That’s the plan.”

This wasn’t entirely unprecedented. Jack had taken his turn reading to both Teal’c and Sam in the past. With one, significant difference. For them, Jack picked something he liked to read. Sure, with Sam or Teal’c in mind, and Teal’c very much liked _The Hunt for Red October._ (Sam considered the legal thriller Jack read her “moderately entertaining, better than sitting here with nothing to focus on, anyway.”) He didn’t read Teal’c political philosophy or science fiction, and Sam didn’t get one of her physics journals. Daniel, on the other hand, got something which interested Jack not at all, but he would enjoy immensely.

Acts of service.

“Daniel? You on board with this plan?”

He smiled. “Absolutely. Thanks, Jack.”

“No problem. Looks like there’s an introduction from the editor. Okay. In this issue, we explore the complex world of translingual realities…”

Oh, yes. Daniel definitely felt loved. It wasn’t the time or place for the conversation, but he settled in to listen with the comfortable knowledge that there was something in this love language business.

* * *

 

By the time Janet let Daniel out of the infirmary, Jack had read him the entire issue of _Journal of Applied Linguistics_ plus three chapters in a new book on a recent reevaluation of Old Kingdom artifacts, and he was more certain than ever that Jack loved him. Therefore, he headed over to Jack’s once he was free to leave the base. His eyesight was, as Janet had promised, no worse for wear.

“Hi,” he said, showing up unannounced on Jack’s doorstep.

Jack waved him in. “If you’re still hoping I’ll grasp the concept of translingual realities, I’m perfectly happy in my ignorance of the subject.”

“That’s not why I’m here,” he said, nerves creeping in over the admittedly remote chance he’d was wrong.

“Something on your mind?”

“Love languages.”

“What?”

“Love languages,” he repeated. “Acts of service. Physical touch. Love languages.”

For a second he thought Jack would try to play dumb. Instead, he looked away, unable to meet Daniel’s eyes. “Is there any language you can’t translate?”

He hadn’t cracked Furling due to insufficient samples, but that wasn’t the point. “This is good news, Jack.”

This at least got him eye contact, wary though it was. “Really?”

“I had to convince myself it wasn’t just wishful thinking.”

The next thing Daniel knew, he was experiencing firsthand the phrase, ‘hugged the stuffing out of.’ Then Jack had a better idea. “I’m gonna kiss you now.”

Daniel was a very enthusiastic participant in the heartfelt kiss. Some indeterminate amount of time later – he’d entirely lost track, not that it was his strongest suit to begin with – they stood looking at each other, both grinning.

There was something he thought had to be addressed. “You’re really willing to risk your career?”

“It’s not that much of a risk.”

This seemed like Jack’s usual tactic of downplaying his own efforts. “But they could discharge you, refuse your pension.”

“They won’t. The worst that’ll happen is I get quietly asked to retire, and let’s face it, retirement is coming sooner rather than later. My knee can only take so much more field duty, and I have no interest in flying a desk.”

“You seem confident you won’t be called out over the military’s bigotry.” Daniel, on the other hand, was quite nervous about the possibility.

“My entire career is classified and I’m currently the 2IC of the most top-secret base we have. Do you really think they want me joining the ranks of disgruntled servicemen ousted under DADT? Sitting for an interview where someone asks what I did before I was forced out, and getting people curious about what I can’t say?”

“I guess not.”

“I’m not worried about it.”

“Even if you have to retire before you’re ready?”

“You’re worth it.”

Daniel kissed him again.

“The thing is,” Jack said, “you’re nominally under my command. And I don’t think being together will really change anything, because I’ve felt this way for a while. But if it’s okay with you, I’d like to tell Teal’c. I trust him to call me out if I’m treating you differently.”

The issue was important to Jack, he could tell. “That’s fine. What about Sam?”

Jack winced. “I don’t know. Not sure where she stands on the whole bisexual thing.”

“I’ll try to find out. Without mentioning my personal investment, of course. I hold enough passionate views about justice that I’m sure I can bring it up.”

“Okay. Fair enough.” Jack put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder, then stopped. “Part of me feels like we should wait until I retire.”

“And the other part?”

“Knows either one of us could die out there tomorrow, for real this time, and doesn’t want to waste the present.”

“I agree with that part,” said Daniel. He’d lost enough people in his life to know that time together was precious.

“So yeah, technically I shouldn’t do this, but I don’t feel good about retiring with Anubis out there, while I can still help fight. We know the score, Daniel. High-risk jobs. And I’m okay with that, but I am not okay with one of us dying and the other one left with no memories, only regrets for what we never did.”

“I agree.” He would be shattered if Jack died, of course. If Jack died and they were never together because of bureaucratic rules? That blow would be a hundred times worse.

“So,” said Jack, uncharacteristically unsure of himself. “What now?”

“Now I think you should invite me to your bedroom.”

Jack gave him a soft smile. “You don’t need an invitation, Daniel. You never did.”

He though quality time was probably his love language, but then again, Jack’s touch always made him happy, and he wasn’t generally so tactile. “Just me, right? Nobody else?” He had to be sure.

“Just you.” Jack pulled him in for another kiss. “Just you, Daniel.”

“Good. I’ve never been the best at sharing. And, to be clear, I don’t want anyone else, either.”

“I’m glad.” The words were murmured against his lips. “Come to bed with me.”

They did make it to the bed. Eventually.

 


End file.
